"It is not practical for us to deliver an ad supported radio experience," Last.fm staffer writes

Some less-than-stellar
news for anyone who uses Last.fm on mobile devices has come out of the popular
internet radio company's blog yesterday -- the mobile version will become an
ad-free, subscriber only feature on February 15.

That
means anyone who enjoys the streaming radio service on his or her smartphone,
or other internet-enabled portable device will have to shell out.

Staffer
Matthew Hawn made the announcement via
his company blog yesterday. He said that Last.fm Radio will remain
free on the website and desktop app, and for U.S. and U.K. users of Xbox Live
and Windows Phone 7 devices. A full breakdown of supported devices can be found
here.

"In
other markets and on emerging mobile and home entertainment devices, it is not
practical for us to deliver an ad supported radio experience, but instead, we
will migrate to what we believe is the highest quality, lowest cost ad-free
music service in the world," Hawn wrote on the blog. "You’ll see
that this change brings us in line with other music services that already
charge you to listen to music on mobile devices. For the cost of a fancy
coffee, a Last.fm monthly subscription allows you to listen to radio across all
platforms, on all your devices, and without commercial interruptions."

Monthly subscriptions to the
service are, in fact, quite affordable -- at just $3. Still, the move prompted
a number of critical comments.

"May
as well just get Spotify to listen to music on mobile then," a user
identified as "Jack” wrote in the comments section. His sentiment was
echoed a number of others.

User
"John" wrote, "It’s been a good run. Thanks for the music but I
may as well get Spotify now. Thanks for staying free as long as you did, times
are tough!"

"I
never understood Spotifys decision to make the iOS devices pay for what you can
get for free on the desktop. I always preferred Last.fm for this very
reason. Now given the choice between the two paid services I will probably
use Spotify," a user named "PeterB" wrote.